Next stop for former Paly star: The major leagues

By Greg Frazier

Daily News Sports Editor

Posted:
07/03/2014 07:16:23 PM PDT

Updated:
07/04/2014 12:40:31 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Albuquerque Isotopes photo
Former Palo Alto High School standout Joc Pederson has been named an all-star in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. At 22, the outfielder is on the cusp of a major-league breakthrough. He is one of the youngest players in the PCL but ranks among the top five in the league in several major statistical categories.

Joc Pederson is on the verge of the major leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

First the former two-sport standout at Palo Alto High School has to rebound from a separated right shoulder suffered when diving for a ball June 24 in Iowa. He is expected to return soon, perhaps this weekend.

Pederson, an outfielder who hits for a high average with power and speed, has been compared to major-league all-stars Robinson Cano and Carlos Gonzales by Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly.

Pederson is filling up the stat sheet playing center field for the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque (N.M.) Isotopes. Thursday Pederson was voted into the Triple-A All-Star Game by fans. That contest is set for Wednesday, July 16 in Durham, N.C. It will be shown on the MLB Network.

The 22-year-old Pederson, one of the youngest players in the Pacific Coast League, leads the league in walks (57), on-base percentage (.439) and on-base-plus-slugging (1.005). He ranks among the PCL's top five in home runs (17, fourth), runs scored (58, second), stolen bases (20, fifth) and slugging (.568, third). He has reached base safely in 67 of 74 games and has driven in 41 runs in 332 at-bats.

Pederson hit .278 with 22 home runs, 58 RBIs and 31 stolen bases in Double-A Chattanooga (Tenn.) a year ago after hitting .313 with power in high-A ball as a 20-year-old. That effort led to him being named the Dodgers' minor-league player of the year in 2012.

He has been one of the youngest players in every league in which he has played.

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The Daily News' prep player of the year as a Paly senior in 2010, Pederson became an 11th-round draft pick that spring. He dropped in the draft because many teams thought he was headed to college, and so did Pederson.

That was before Pederson landed the second-biggest bonus of any Dodgers selection in that draft, $600,000, the Los Angeles Times reports. The bonus was four times what Major League Baseball recommends for draft picks after the fifth round and exceeded the amount given to any Dodgers pick other than the first-round choice.

Dodgers scouting director Logan White spoke to the L.A. newspaper, thanking former owner Frank McCourt for shelling out the money needed to land Pederson and first-round pick Zach Lee (a pitcher also on the verge of the majors) when both appeared headed to college.

"I can't tell you he's going to be a big leaguer," White said he told McCourt, who later left the team in bankruptcy, "but I can guarantee you he'll be a first-round pick (after college)."

Pederson said he had planned to play baseball at USC and walk on with the Trojans' football team.

"I signed right at the deadline," Pederson told the Times. "I already had my bags packed to go down to SC. I had a bike. Instead of moving to the dorm, I was driving down to get a physical. Everything happened really quick."

Baseball America rates Pederson as the 34th-best prospect in baseball, No. 1 in the Dodgers' chain. MLB.com's ratings put him at No. 29 in all of baseball.

When Pederson reaches "The Show," he will become the fourth local product currently in the big leagues, joining Mountain View native Erik Davis, a reliever with the Washington Nationals, and St. Louis Cardinals infielder Daniel Descalso and Boston Red Sox outfielder Daniel Nava. Descalso and Nava are from Redwood City and played at St. Francis High Mountain View. Former Los Altos High pitcher Erik Johnson has been in the majors recently with the Chicago White Sox but is currently in Triple-A.

There is little doubt Pederson will play in the majors, the question is when. The big-league Dodgers are loaded with quality outfielders, so Pederson's quickest path to the bigs could come through a trade. His name is frequently mentioned in trade talks as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.